Mounting for antifriction bearings



. p 1950, A. M. LAMM 2,521,638

MOUNTING FOR ANTIFRICTION BEARINGS Filed April 12, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 II? g ki 49% ///III1III 77 n i a J fiymffm kw AW? d hW Sept. 5, 1950 A. M. LAMM 2,521,638

MOUNTING FpR ANTIF'RICTION BEARINGS Filed April 12, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/qu' Sept. 5, 1950 A. M. LAMM mouuwmc FOR ANTIFRICTION BEARINGS 5 Sheets$heet 3 Filed April 12, 1946 Patented Sept. 5, 1950 MOUNTING FOR AN TIFRIC'IION BEARINGS Ake'Magnus Lamm, Luton, England, assignor to Aktiebolagct Svenska Kullageri'abriken, Goteborg, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Application April 12, 1946, Serial No. 661,838 In Great Britain April 27, 1945 8 Claims. I,

The present invention is for improvements in or relating to mountings for antifriction bearlngs, more particularly mountings of the type in which, in order to prevent noise, the bearings are held in position by resilient metallic members. The invention has for one of its objects to provide a more convenient and eillcient construction of mounting of this type than has heretofore been available.

According to the primary feature of the invention there is provided an antifriction mounting of the type described above, and comprising a resilient disc-like web in which the bearing is to be carried with its running axis normal to the surface of the web, which mounting is characterized in that the web is provided with a plurality of laterally extending tongues or the like, which together form a hub for engaging the outside of the bearing frictionally. This frictional engagement of the bearing by the tongues enables a closely-fitting support to be provided for the hearing which will eliminate chatter and can be cheaply manufactured withoutthe necessity of working to such fine limits as in previous proposals.

In carrying out the present invention, it is preferred to arrange that when the parts are assembled in working position, the web and hearing are received in a housing of such formation as to cause the web to buckle in the direction to urge its tongues against the outside of the bearing. Thus the deformation of the web increases the frictional engagement of the tongues against the outside of the bearing.

Other purposes and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following.

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is an elevation, mainly in central longitudinal section, of the electric motor and fan for a vacuum cleaner;

Figure 2 is a partial end view, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in Figure 1, showing the bearing mounting, accordin to the present invention, detached;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the said detached bearing mounting;

Figure 4 is an end view, looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Figure 1, showing the washer detached;

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view, corresponding to a part of Figure 1, but showing a modified construction;

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view, corresponding to Figure 5, but showing another construction;

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view, corresponding to Figures Sand 6, but showing a further construction;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary end view looking in the direction of the arrows 8 in Figure '7;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary end view of some of the parts, looking in the direction of the arrows 9 in Figure 7;

Figure 10 is a view, corresponding to Figure l,

10 of another form of electric motor and housing therefor;

Figure 11 is a sectional view of the bearing mounting of Figure 10, detached;

Figure 12 is a detail sectionalview of another 15 form of bearing mounting;

throughout the drawings.

Referring firstly to Figures 1-4, the rotor of a vacuum cleaner motor is shown at 20, its shaft at 2|, its commutator at 22 and its housing at 23. The shaft 2| is reduced at both ends 24 and 25 and has these reduced ends supported in ball bearing, the end 25 projecting through its bearin to receive the fan 26. The bearing, receiving the end 24 of the shaft 2|, has its outer race 21 a suitable fit in the housing 23 and its inner race 28 abutting endwise against the shoulder formed by the reduced end 24 of the shaft. The inner race 29 of the bearing adjacent to the fan 26 abuts against a similar, but oppositely directed, shoulder, and the outer race 30 of this hearing is frictionally held by tongues 3| which reach out from a resilient disc-like web 32. The outer rim of the web is clamped to the end of the said housing 23 by screws 33, this rim being bent into angular formation so as to bed also against the inner face of the housing. The formation is such that when the parts are assembled and the clamping screws 33 are home, the web 32 is so buckled as to exert pressure by the tongues 3| on the outer race 30 of the bearing and urge said race endwise in the direction to maintain the shaft 2| pressed against the abutment provided by the inner race 28 at the commutator end of the shaft. In other words, the axial dimensions chosen for the parts are such that when the web 32 is clamped home, it buckles slightly thus (a) subjecting the assembly to an axial pre-load 3 without the outer race 33 having to slide rela tively to the tongues 3| and (b) also causing the tongues 3| to be pressed against the bearing race 33 to grip it. A spider-form loose washer 34 (shown detached in Figure 4) is interposed between the web 32 and the adjacent and of the outer race 30, this washer enabling the buckling of the web to exert positive endwise pressure on the end of the race 30. The washer 34 may be cast or moulded from metal or plastic." In each bearing shown in Figure 1, the races are such as to be prevented by the balls from moving substantially endwise relatively to each other in either direction. Other rolling bodies may be substituted for balls.

In forming the tongues 3|, they may either be set substantially at right-angles to the plane of the web 32, or they may have a slight initial setting such that their tips are at a different diameter from that at their roots. They may be longitudinally straight as shown in Figure 1, or may be curved as shown in Figure 3 to present longitudinally convex surfaces to the bearing they are to grip. They may be resilient. Their shape and setting depend upon the material used and the dimensions of the parts, including the thickness of the web and tongues, the flexibility of the material and the amount of distortion or buckling required when the parts are clamped in assembled position. For example, in a construction as shown in Figure 2, for a web 122 mm. diameter, a mild steel plate 1.4 mm. thick and cyanide hardened may be employed. The centre portion of the blank is removed, the rim is channelled and a continuous ring, from which the tongues are to be formed, is pressed up around the central aperture. The tongues are cut from this ring so that their overall length is 14 mm., and for a bearing having an outside diameter of 40 mm. there may be ten tongues of equal width and with parallel sides with spaces between the tongues 3 mm. wide, i. e. about one third of the width of the tongues. The tongues are thus rounded to conform to the bearing and their roots preferably merge with a rounded corner into the web. For a bearing of 40 mm. outside diameter the maximum and minimum diameters of plug gauges to pass through the finished tongues without distorting the latter could be 40.2 mm. and 40 mm. respectively. It is particularly advantageous from the manufacturing point of view that the tolerance can be as much as 0.2 mm. Longitudinally, the ring from which the tongues are cut is curved so that the tongues present a convex surface to the bearing, the curve being struck by a radius of cm. located 9 mm. from the base of the web. The web itself is flat when unstressed and is formed with apertures 35 to increase its resilience, these apertures being pearshaped with their smaller ends radially directed to the centre of the bearing and each located onposite a space between two adjacent tongues.

In the construction shown in Figure 5, the web 32 is formed with an out-turned flange 36 and with sockets 31, received in recesses 38 in the housing 23, for the clamping screws 33. No washer, such as 34 above, is employed, but instead, the web 32 is formed with tabs 39 which project radially inwards, at the spaces between adjacent tongues 3|, to engage the end of the bearing race 30.

In the construction shown in Figure 6, the web 32 is formed with a flange 40 turned over in the direction to lie snugly around the end of the housing 23. At its centre, the web 32 has attached to it by suitable means (riveting is shown) a thin metal washer which is pressed into channelled formation and serves two purposes. Its portion 4| engages the end of the bearing race 34 to apply endwise pressure thereto and ur e it against a dust excluder 46 which in turn bears against the shoulder formed on the shaft 2| by the reduced end 25. Its portion 42 extends sufflciently closel to the collar 43 on the reduced end 25 of the shaft 2| to serve as a dust excluder for the adjacent bearing. In the construction of bearing shown in this figure, the outer race 30 can he slid endwise into and out of operative position around the inner race 29, the direction in which it slides into operative position being the same as that in which it is urged by the buckled web.

In the construction shown in Figures 7-9, the outer edge of the web 32 is cut away regularly to form projections 44 which are intended to interlock with lugs 45 reaching inwardly from the end of the housing 23. The spaces between adjacent lugs 45 are such as to permit the web to be moved endwise past the lugs. When the web is behind the plane of the 1ugs,it is given a partial turn so as to cause its projections 44 to lie against the rear surface of the lugs. At its centre, the web has tabs 39 like those shown in Figure 5, but a dust excluder 46 is shown interposed between the tabs 39 and the end of the bearing race 30. In this construction the end 25 of the shaft 2| is not reduced but a groove 11 is formed in the shaft into which a split ring 18 is sprung to provide a shoulder between which and a collar 43 the race 29 is confined.

In the construction shown in Figures 10 and 11 an electric motor, whereof the rotor is shown at 41, is carried inside a cylindrical casing 48 by a shaft 49 having reduced ends 50 and 5|. At each end of the casing there is clamped a disc-- like web 32 with tongues 3|, as aforesaid, engaging the outer race 30 of a ball or roller bearing whereof the inner race 29 abuts against a dust excluder 52 lying against the shoulders formed on the shaft 49 by the reduced ends. The webs 32 are so arranged that the tongues 3| on each reach in the direction of the other, and between each web and the adjacent end of the associated outer race 30 a spider-form loose metal plate washer 53, similar in edge contour to the washer 34 aforesaid, is interposed. When the webs are clamped in place, their buckling urges the bearings against their respective shoulders on the shaft 49. As will be seen from Figure 11, the tongues 3| are initially formed with their tips 54 at a different diameter from their roots 55.

In the construction shown in Figures 12 and 13, the bearing mounting according to the invention is not used to locate a shaft endwise, but only to locate the bearing, In this construction, the anti-friction rollers 56 run directly on a plain portion of the shaft 51 and are surrounded by a race 58. The outer surface of the latter frictionally receives the interlaced tongues 3| on two oppositely disposed webs 32 riveted to a support 59. These webs are initially formed somewhat dished in shape and the operation of securing them to the support 59 buckles them into the parallel formation shown in Figure 12 so that the tongues are pressed against the race 58 and the two webs counteract each other and co-opcrate to locate the bearing relatively to the support 59. Flat spider-form washers 60 are interposed between the webs 32 and the race 58 and enable the webs to apply endwise thrust to the ends of the latter. These washers also serve to keep the rollers 56 in place and to exclude dust.

In the construction shown in Figure 14, the inner race SI of a ball or roller bearing is held fast between a shoulder 62 on a shaft 63 and a clamping nut 64 screwed on to the shaft, and the outer surface of the outer race 65 frictionally receives the interlaced tongues ill on two oppositely-disposed webs 32, in a manner similar to that described in connection with Figures 12 and 13. when the webs are clamped in their support 66 by the ring 81 they are oppositely buckled into parallel formation thus urgin the tongues 3| against the bearing race 65 and applying resilient resistance to endwise movement of the bearing. and therefore of the shaft, in either direction. A distance rin 68 surrounding the tongues 3| is interposed between the opposed faces of the webs to preclude the webs closing towards each other, and a similar ring 69 is interposed between the outer edges of the webs. The bearing shown is self-aligning.

The invention is not restricted to electric motor bearings. For instance in Figure 15 there is shown a roller which is endwise located with respect to its spindle 1| by two similar but oppositely disposed bearing mountings according to the invention. The spindle II is formed with two grooves 12 into each of which is sprung a split collar 13. Each collar 13 is engaged by the outer end of the irmer race H of a bearing, and the inner end of the outer race 15 of each bearing is engaged by tabs 39 on webs 32 which have tongues 3 I embracing the outer surface of the race 15. Thus the buckling of the webs 32 when the parts are assembled forces the races 15 apart and lo cates the bearings against the collars 13,

It is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to the precise constructional details set forth. For instance, instead of the web being initially flat and being brought into dished formation by the buckling, or being initially dished and being brought into flat formation by the buckling, it may be initially dished and be brought by the buckling into a shallower or a more deeply dished formation, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent the following: a

1. An anti-friction bearing mounting comprising a resilient disc-like web having a plurality of laterally extending tongues in annular series forming a hub for reception of the bearing within which the bearing is supported with its running axis normal to the plane of the web, said-tongues being constructed and arranged to frictionally engage and to exert radial pressure resiliently confining said bearing.

2. An anti-friction bearing according to claim 1 in which the web is provided with tabs projecting radially inward to engage the side face of the bearing.

3. In an anti-friction bearing assembly, a resilient disc-like web having a plurality of laterally extending tongues in annular series forming a hub for reception of the bearin within which the bearing is supported with its running axis normal to the plane of the web, and an antifriction bearing mounted in said hub with the said component tongues frictionally engaging and exerting radial pressure upon the outer peripheral surface of the bearing and resiliently confining said bearing in the web.

4. An. assembly according to claim 3 wherein the web is tensioned in an axial direction so as to urge the tongues against the surface of the bearing.

5. An assembly according to claim 4 in which the bearing is mounted on a shaft in engagement with a shoulder on the latter and in which the web is formed and arranged so as to cause it to exert pressure on the bearing in a direction towards the said shoulder, there being a pressuretransmitting member interposed between the bearing and the web, said member being in the form of a washer havin substantially radially projecting arms extending through spaces between adjacent tongues to bear against the face of the web.

6. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein the web is tensioned in an axial direction so as to urge the tongues against the surface of the bearing, and wherein further the bearing is mounted in two of said webs with the tongues of one web interspersed with the tongues of the other, said webs being arranged so that they are tensioned in opposite directions to urge the tongues against the bearing and also to apply resilient resistance to movement of the bearing in both axial directions.

7. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein the web is tensioned in an axial direction so as to urge the tongues against the surface of the bearing, and wherein also means is provided on the web element for engagement with one axial end of the bearing and wherein further the bearing is mounted on a shaft with the other axial end thereof in engagement with a shoulder on the shaft, said web and shoulder being relatively arranged so that the latter acts through the hearing to hold the web under tension and said tension acts to urge the bearing against the shoulder.

8. An assembly according to claim 7 wherein additionally the shaft is provided with a second and oppositely facing shoulder together with a second bearing engaged with said shoulder and mounted in a second resilient web element of the character of the web first named, each of said webs being arranged with respect to its related shoulder so that the latter acts through the bearing to hold the web under said tension and said tension acts to urge the bearing against the shoulder.

AKE MAGNUS LAMM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,352,204 Leitch Sept. 7, 1920 2,030,193 Arnold Feb. 11, 1936 2,345,952 Smith Apr. 4, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 527,475 France Oct. 26, 1921 428,077 Great Britain May 7, 1935 

